AFK acquires German energy storage specialist Commeo as part of Ampwell strategy
12. May 2022
The innovative Commeo EMS energy management system combines hardware and software with a view to all the requirements of Industry 4.0. It analyses, visualizes and controls the energy flow and the associated data streams from energy infrastructures and industrial and commercial systems in order to achieve maximum efficiency. The Commeo EMS is a logical and necessary step in the process of digital transformation to integrate the energy supply and individual energy flows into the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). As a result, machines and automation technology in industrial applications can be integrated into standard EMS and integrated into the existing charging infrastructure (e.g. photovoltaics).
With its database-based approach, the Commeo EMS enables a semantic network of objects, real-time values, complex relationships and functions within the database to connect and control the software with the existing devices. In this way, the gap between the virtual and the real world can be closed in terms of Industry 4.0. With a special 24/7 computing unit, the EMS ensures the necessary stability in the energy supply process. The heart of the Commeo EMS is the specially developed database in the background, which is based on objects with properties and values, their relationships to other objects, as well as functions and logic.
Flexible integration
This structure enables a virtual representation of the real world – the image of an existing infrastructure via digital twins. This can be enriched with individual data and properties, complex relationships and functions such as “self-consumption optimization”. Once created, each new object or function of the EMS database is stored in a shared library and can be reused for other applications – not only by the creator himself, but also by all other users of the EMS. This means that the operator of a system benefits from the work of each individual user when it comes to integrating new devices or tools into an infrastructure.
Efficient integration
The Commeo EMS can manage all digitally communicating devices – whether hardware such as inverters and battery systems or software such as virtual machines, ERP or CRM tools. Atypical devices such as PLC controls can also be connected, since all common and many other digital industrial languages and interfaces are supported. All devices are created as pseudo-physical objects and used to monitor, store, analyze
data and manage functions of the physical equivalent in real time. Even the modeling of a virtual machine in the EMS with subsequent connection of the real physical components is possible. With this structure, the EMS adapts efficiently to the existing situation at the customer during implementation and expansion – and not vice versa. Comprehensive multi-site platform The Commeo EMS can also be installed on different hardware for a wide variety of requirements. As a result, it is now possible to create and extend decentralized solutions. The solution from the Wallenhorst specialists can even be implemented at
different locations in several countries at the same time and connected to form a comprehensive platform. With an almost unlimited number of interfaces and manageable devices, with updates and new functionalities remotely, without the need for users to use a specific programming language and with all data stored on servers and devices, easy and secure integration into existing system and energy
infrastructures. “This means that even ‘white labeling’, i.e. the use of adapted GUIs or the connection to other GUIs or apps, is possible at any time without any problems,” explains Michael Schnakenberg, Managing Director of Commeo GmbH. “You can even ‘tell’ a machine how to react to changing mains voltages. This prevents production downtime and helps to identify and solve connection or communication
problems. In short, with our Commeo EMS, we offer for the first time a true industrial multi-language hub that provides maximum integration and independently accompanies all digital developments in the industry to ensure that our energy solutions continue to operate properly in 10 years’ time.”
Cost advantage
Another big advantage of the Commeo EMS is the cost savings: It enables inexpensive adjustments and extensions to be made by your own employees – without any programming knowledge. New, cost-saving functions such as peak shaving or UPS can also be easily added if required. The innovative energy management system from Commeo can be seen for the first time from May 11th on at the stand of the Wallenhorst specialists B2.310 at the Munich exhibition center on the occasion of The Smarter E / ees 2022.
